Safety belt



H. SCHOCK SAFETY BELT June 17, 1969 Sheet Filed May 5, 1965 Jane 17, 1969 H. SCHOCK 3,450,434

SAFETY BELT Filed May 5, 1965 Sheet 2 of 2 United States Patent 3,450,434 SAFETY BELT Hermann Schock, Furstenstr. 16, Rottach-Egern, Germany Filed May 5, 1965, Ser. No. 453,451 Int. Cl. B60r 21/10 US. Cl. 297385 14 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE My invention relates to a safety belt and more particularly to a safety seat belt for motor vehicles having a releasable connection formed by a buckle and by a slider insertable into the buckle.

The safety belts that have found increasingly greater acceptance for use in motor vehicles generally consist of two parts including a buckle and a slider each secured to an end of a respective web or belt portion and fastened at its other end to the vehicle chassis. The buckle and slider are connected together in front of the body of the person to be secured. Belts of such construction have various disadvantages, however.

Since an end of at least one web portion of the safety belt is usually secured to the floor of the vehicle chassis preferably at the main shaft housing, that belt portion normally lies on the floor, generally in front of the rear seat, when the safety belt is not in use, and therefore becomes easily soiled.

A further disadvantage of the conventional safety belts which include two web portions is that due to the location of the belt connection in the front of the body of the person to be secured, the structure of the buckle must meet certain complicating specifications. Thus the buckle must be as flat as possible so as not to hamper the individual being protected. The construction of the buckle that is consequently necessary does not afford in prac tice as effortless and as easy a means of releasing the safety belt as would be desired.

It is accordingly an object of my invention to provide a safety belt which avoids the foregoing disadvantages of the known safety belts and which more specifically avoids soiling of the belt web and minimizes the discomforts to the wearer which is generally caused by the belt buckle being in front of the wearer with the conventional seat belts.

Another object of my invention is to provide a safety belt having a buckle whose shape and weight are virtually unlimited by conditions such as are imposed on the buckle of conventional safety belts due to their location in front of the user.

A further object of my invention is to provide a safety belt with a buckle whose construction is determined by or adjusted to its functional requirements.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a safety belt with a buckle having an actuating member in the form of an easily manipulatable lever for positively releasing the buckle connection, but which cannot inadvertently release the buckle connection.

With these and other objects in view, I provide a safety belt which has a stationary buckle, more particularly fastened to the floor of the vehicle interior, and a slider secured at the end of a single belt or web length.

In accordance with other specific aspects of my invention, I provide a safety belt with a buckle having a catch member adapted to enter an opening formed in a slide member, the catch member being held in locking condi- Patented June 17, 1969 tion by a biasing spring force. The catch member is movable out of the locking position by means of an operating member so as to loosen or release the belt connection. The locking member is in the form of a turnable and axially displaceable bolt and the operating member is constructed as a lever which is connected to the bolt and which effects an axial displacement of the locking member over a guide by means of a turning motion.

In accordance with other particular aspects of my invention, I provide a novel buckle with an axially displaceable locking member and a turnable operating member, the axial displacement of the locking member being superimposed on the turning motion of the operating member. The axial displacement is determined by a substantially V-shaped control cam located in a bearing bushing of the locking member, the operating member which is non-rotatably connected to the locking member, gliding along the control cam.

In accordance with still further aspects of my invention, I provide the bearing bushing of the locking member with two control cams located substantially diametrically opposite one another, the control cams being of symmetrical outline so that the buckle is able to be released independently of the turning direction of the operating member.

Instead of mounting the locking member in a bearing bushing, in accordance with still other aspects of my invention, I provide a safety belt in which the locking member extends through two bearings located at a distance from each other, a profile member having a control cam being inserted between the two bearings. It is also feasible, however, and within the scope of my invention, to provide a one-piece profile member with a housing portion having a bearing.

In order to simplify the production and mounting of the buckle for the safety belt constructed in accordance with my invention, it is desirable that the buckle be equally usable for the right as well as the left seat of the vehicle. Consequently, in accordance with a further aspect of my invention, the lever operating member is insertable into the locking member from either side so as to be accommodated to the particular seat of the vehicle.

In accordance with another aspect of my invention, to obtain a satisfactory fit of the safety belt to the respective shoulder height of the person to be secured, where the safety belt extends from one shoulder across the chest to the side of the person, the slider is pivotable in the buckle through a limited angle while nevertheless maintaining the locking position.

The features of my invention which are considered as characteristic thereof are set forth in the appended claims.

The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments thereof, when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Although the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a safety belt, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a buckle and slider constructed in accordance with my invention with a bearing bushing including a locking member in locking position;

FIG. 2 is an end view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 taken along a plane perpendicular to the plane of the drawing of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is another view of FIG. 3 with the locking member out of locking position;

FIG. is a longitudinal sectional view of a second embodiment of the buckle and slider with a double bearing of the locking member in locking position; and

FIG. 6 is another view of FIG. 5 with the locking member out of locking position.

Referring now to the drawings and first particularly to FIGS. 1 to 4 there is shown a releasable connection for a safety belt particularly for motor vehicles which consists essentially of a buckle 1 which is fixed to the floor of the vehicle chassis, and a slider 2 which is insertable into the buckle. The slider 2 is connected in a conventional manner with one end of a flexible web or strap 2' which is, in turn, firmly secured at its other end to the vehicle chassis or vehicle seat or the like.

The buckle housing is made of two parts 3, 4 that are connected to one another by rivets or screws 5.

The housing portion 3 is provided with an inclined mounting extension 3a provided with 'bores 6 (FIG. 1) by means of which the buckle may be bolted to the floor of the vehicle. When the buckle is fastened to the floor of the vehicle, it is inclined at an angle determined by the slant of the mounting attachment 3a (FIGS. 2, 3), so that the slider 2 is able to catch in the buckle 1 along a rectilinear extension of the safety belt web (not shown) that passes across the chest to the shoulder of the individual being secured thereby.

The housing portion 3 of the buckle 1 is also provided with a tubular extension 3b, which serves as a bearing bushing for a locking member 7 which is essentially in the form of a cylindrical pin.

The locking member 7 is mounted in the bearing bushing formed by the extension 3b so that it is turnable and axially displaceable, and is subjected to the biasing action of a compression spring 8. The compression spring 8 abuts at one end against a shoulder of a protruding portion 7a of the locking member 7 and at the other end against an interior shoulder formed in the tubular extension 3b.

A manually actuable operating member 9 extends through the locking member 7 and rests against the edge of two substantially V-shaped control cams 10 on both sides of the locking member 7, the cams 10 being diametrically opposite one another in the extension 312 that forms the bearing bushing.

The bearing bushing provided with the control cam can be shaped by turning on a lathe or can be formed by a deep drawing process into part of the buckle.

A screw 11 secures the operating member 9 to the locking member 7 and simultaneously fastens a synthetic cap 12 to the locking member 7.

The leading portion of the slider 2 which is insertable into the housing of the buckle 1 is provided with an opening 2a having a diameter corresponding substantially with the diameter of the protruding portion 7a of the locking member 7. The locking member 7 is formed with an inclined surface 7a FIG. 3) at a side thereof facing the open end of the buckle 1. In addition the parts 3, 4 of the buckle housing are provided at the slider entering side of the buckle with outwardly inclined bearing surfaces 30, 40 respectively, to facilitate the insertion of the slider.

A wire spring 14 is located between the two buckle portions 3, 4 and acts as an injection spring, for ejecting the slider 2 from the buckle when the locking member 7 is in unlocked position. The screws 5 which hold the housing portions 3, 4 together extend through protruding spacers 3d (FIG. 1) of the housing portion 3 by which the housing portions 3 and 4 are held spaced apart from one another.

Disconnecting the belt by an operating lever preferably provided with a suitable handle affords a distinct advantage over the heretofore known devices that operate with slides, flaps and similar members, because an operating lever is more easily manipulated. This is particularly important in the case of safety belts since it is often essential that an injured or dazed person in the vehicle following an accident be released from his safety belt as soon as possible.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the cylindrical locking member 7 is located in a bore 15 of the housing portion 3 and in a bore 16 of the bearing cap 17 which is secured by appropriate fastening means such as the illustrated screw to the housing portion 3. A profile or shaped member 18 is clamped between the bearing cap 17 and the housing portion 3, accordingly, and is provided with a cylindrical extension 19 in which the control cam .10 is formed.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6 the compression spring 8 bears at one end against the operating member 9 which extends through the locking member 7 and, at the other end, bears against an inside surface of the bearing cap 17. The profile member 18 is preferably integral and of metal or suitable plastic material. Instead of the profile or shaped member 18, however, the housing portion 3 can also be provided with a cylindrical extension 19 in which a control cam 10 is formed.

The mounting extension 3a in the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6 is not located at an angle to the rest of the buckle 1 as in the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4, so as to facilitate the fastening thereof in certain types of vehicles.

The operation of my new safety belt is asfollows:

In the locking position in which the safety belt is connected, the protruding extension 7a of the locking member 7 extends into the opening 2a in the slider 2 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 for example. Accidental release from this locking position is prevented by the compression spring 8.

In FIG. 1 the dot-and-dash lines represent two additional positions of the slider 2 angularly disposed with respect to the buckle 1 by turning thereof around the cylindrical extension 7a. It can be seen accordingly that the safety belt can be suitably adjusted to the position of the individual being secured thereby.

In order to loosen the safety belt connection, it is necessary only to turn the lever-type operating member 9 in either of the two turning directions. The operating member 9 consequently slides upwardly on the edges of both V-shaped control earns 10 of the bearing bushings 3b (FIG. 4), carrying the locking member 7 therewith. When the projecting portion 7a is removed from the opening 2a of the slider 2, the slider is forced out of the buckle by the stressed ejection spring 14. After the slider 2 has been ejected from the buckle 1, the compressed spring 8 then forces the locking member 7 back to its original position in which it abuts against the inner surface of the housing portion 4.

When the slider is first inserted into the buckle 1, the leading edge of the slider presses against the inclined surface 7a' of the locking member projection 7a so as to force the locking member 7 upwardly against the biasing action of the spring 8 until the locking member extension 7a is located over the opening 2a whereupon it snaps into the opening 2a. The two spacer extensions 3b (FIG. 1) permit the slider to assume a secure locking position even when it is inserted at an angle.

I claim:

1. Safety belt for a vehicle having a seat and a floor comprising a buckle having means for fixing said buckle directly to the floor of the vehicle so that said buckle is stationary relative to said floor, a displaceable slider insertable in said buckle said buckle having a locking member comprising a turnable and axially displaceable pin resiliently biased for locking engagement in an opening formed in said slider, an actuating member comprising a lever connected to said pin for turning the same, and control cam means operatively engageable by said actuating member for axially displacing said pin out of engagement with said slider when said pin is turned by said lever, said slider being connected to one end of a flexible web, the other end of said flexible web being attachable to the '5 vehicle so that said web is extensible across the seat whereby a person seated in the seat can be securely held in the seat by said web when said slider is locked in said buckle.

2. Safety belt according to claim 1 wherein said buckle is formed with a bearing bushing and said control cam means is mounted in said bearing bushing and provided with a substantially V-shaped cam profile, said actuating member being slidable along said cam profile.

3. Safety belt according to claim 1 wherein said buckle is formed with a bearing bushing and said control cam means is mounted in said bearing bushing and comprises a pair of control cams located diametrically opposite one another.

4. Safety belt according to claim 1 wherein said actuating member is insertable through either end of a bore extending transversely to said locking member.

5. Safety belt according to claim 1 wherein said buckle is fixable in a slightly inclined position relative to the vehicle floor.

6. Safety belt according to claim 1, wherein said locking member pin is received in a bearing bushing formed in said buckle, said pin having an enlarged end portion adapted to be received in said opening formed in said slider, a compression spring surrounding said pin and abutting at respective ends thereof against said enlarged end portion of said pin and an inner shoulder formed in said bearing bushing.

7. Safety belt for a vehicle having a seat and a floor comprising a buckle, means for fixing said buckle to the floor of the vehicle, a displaceable slider insertable in said buckle against the yieldable bias of an ejection spring mounted in said buckle, said slider being connected to one end of a flexible web, the other end of said flexible web being attachable to the vehicle so that said web is extensible across the seat whereby a person seated in the seat may be securely held therein by said web when said slider is inserted in said buckle.

8. Safety belt according to claim 1 wherein an end of said pin is insertable in said opening formed in said slider, said end being formed with an inclined surface.

9. Safety belt according to claim 1 wherein said locking member pin is received in a bearing bushing formed in said buckle, an end of said pin to which said actuating member is connected and a portion of said bearing bushing surrounding said end of said pin being covered by a protective cap, and screw means for fastening said cap to said locking member and for simultaneously securing said actuating member to said locking member.

10. Safety 'belt according to claim 9 wherein said protective cap is of synthetic material.

11. Safety belt according to claim 1 wherein said buckle comprises a housing portion and a bearing cap fastened to each other and formed with mutually aligned bores, said locking member pin being turnably and axially displaceably mounted in said bores.

12. Safety belt according to claim 11 including a compression spring surrounding said locking member pin and abutting at respective ends thereof said actuating member and an inner surface of said bearing cap.

13. Safety belt according to claim 11 wherein a shaped member is sandwiched between said housing portion and said bearing cap and has a substantially cylindrical portion located intermediate said bores, said control cam means being formed on said cylindrical portion and comprising at least one substantially V-shaped control cam.

14. Safety belt according to claim 13 wherein said shaped member is integrally connected with said housing portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,255,258 9/1941 Lethern et al. 24-205.17 X 2,855,028 10/1958 Matthews 297385 2,965,942 12/1960 Carter 24l70 3,083,035 3/1963 Ottosson 280l 3,104,439 9/1963 Martin 24205.l7 3,132,399 5/1964 Cooper 24205.l7 3,164,409 1/1965 Rumble 297388 FOREIGN PATENTS 685,206 4/1964 Canada.

JAMES T. McCALL, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 24230 

